In dog’s killing, it’s not the police who deserve blame

While the unfortunate killing of Chloe, the lab/pit bull pet of an irresponsible pet owner in Commerce City is tragic, letter-writer Lorraine May fails to place blame where it rightfully belongs: with the dog’s owner. With pet ownership comes human responsibility, whether it be a pit bull, a parakeet or a pony. Left uncontrolled and unrestrained, a pet is vulnerable to any number of potential perils.

Rather than suggest that police officer “sensitivity” training be added to their already lengthy list of superfluous non-essential public safety concerns, why not consider a greater emphasis on pet owner “responsibility” training?

While I respect Ms. May’s concern and credentials in her capacity as executive director of The Misha May Foundation and vice president of the No Kill Colorado coalition, I would encourage her to place more emphasis on the real culprit of this oft-repeated tale of tragedy: the human caretaker.

Andrew Donlon, Pagosa Springs

This letter was published in the Dec. 5 edition.

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Oh plueeze!! Dogs and cats get lose all the time regardless how responsible the owner is. Chloe was a family pet- not one of your hyper trained K-9 units. Hyping up the neathandral cops in CC by Deputy Dog Kenny Collins didn’t help. Having an AC officer who couldn’t do her job properly, all added to a very smart pups curiosity turned deadly.
I hope you are not on a police force anywhere- your mentality is part of the problem.

Anonymous

Mr. Donlon obviously didn’t bother to read that the dog was being cared for by a relative or friend of the owner while they were out of town. This person left the dog in the garage when she left for work. It is believed the dog tripped the garage door opener. That is why the garage door was open and the dog was loose. It wasn’t because the owner or temporary care-taker did anything recklessly careless.

Phil

So it isn’t careless to fail to make sure the dog can’t open the garage door prior to leaving the dog in the garage?

Anonymous

Phil – read the original story. The owner did NOT leave the garage door open. The dog some how tripped the opener for the garage door. I would of left my friend’s dog in my garage, “believing” he couldn’t get the garage door open or get loose. Am I being “careless?”

Anonymous

You didn’t read Phil’s comment correctly.
zivo said the dog somehow tripped the garage-door opener.
Phil is asking if it isn’t careless not to ensure that the dog couldn’t trip the garage-door opener.

Soupy

I think you got Mr. Donlon’s point Phil.

Anonymous

Wow! How many pets do think Andrew has . . and have lived to old age?! “Irresponsible pet owner???” Did Andrew even read the story? The owner had to go out of state and left his companion pet that got him through his life-altering health issues with a friend to care for. The friend put the dog’s bed in the garage and had to leave it there while running an errand. The dog “accidentally” tripped the garage door opener, and being it a strange location, started to wander. Encountering a stranger in a strange location, it naturally would bark. Mr. Donlon doesn’t appreciate let alone understand dogs so he wouldn’t know this. While the dog is a lab-mix, rather than a pit bull, it could appear “vicious” to some untrained people like Mr. Donlon. Animal control could of caught this loose dog and kept it until the person caring for it could retrieve it. But police were called with the adjective of “vicious pit bull” being loose.

That left this cop to decide to intervene in the animal control officer’s duty, which was being successful, and shoot a tasered, frightened, “caught” dog – FIVE TIMES. Now the killing of the dog was one issue. The other is the safety of the community for a cop blazing away at a dog that’s not a threat five times, and ricocheting bullets going every where. Do you think if a bystander were hit, the issue of the dog killing would be at the forefront?

Mr. Donlon needs to stick to this anti-pet philosophy and stay out of societies business – who DO care about people’s pets’ be they “property” or beloved companions. Leave the caring and treatment of pets, lose and harmless to those who do care about these pets, and that of the professionals – the animal control who are trained to do so – and leave the anti-pet comments to your narrow mind.

DVM2

Actually, I believe Mr. Donlon is very “pro” pet.
I suppose if Chloe had been hit by a car while loose in the neighborhood, it would be more palatable to those of you who didn’t get the point. Hmmmmm, you could then blame the police for not preventing the accident. Control and care for your pets folks, just as you would a small child.

Doug

Yes, people need to control their pets. But accidents happen. This was a freak incident where the dog got out. That does not justify the fact that the officer shot and killed a dog that was not posing a threat. If Chloe had been hit by a car it would have been a tragic accident. But the shooting was not an accident, was it? It was an intentional act by a poorly trained officer who did not know or care how to read body language. Dogs sometimes find ways to escape. As long as it is not habitual it does not mean that the owners are irresponsible. If yours got out wouldn’t you want someone trying to get it back to you? Or would you want it to be shot and killed?

DVM2

Of course I would want someone to return my “stray” pet. But the fact that I allowed the animal to “stray” shifts the responsibility for its return to someone else…… With no guarantees

Doug

Yes there are no “guarantees.” But people do not “allow” their animals to stray. Things happen that we can’t control. That does not make us irresponsible animal owners and certainly does not justify our animal being shot when he could have been restrained. If your animal happened to dig out of your yard would that justify him being shot? I don’t think so. You’d better hope that if your dog ever gets out he is found by someone with more compassion and understanding than you have.

Doug

This was an unfortunate situation that was turned into a tragedy by the action of a poorly trained police officer. While I agree that dog owners need to be responsible for the care of their dogs, sometimes dogs get loose through no fault of the owner. If an owner habitually lets their dogs run loose, then the owners need to be dealt with by authorities. No argument from me on that. But sometimes these things just happen and I don’t think it’s too much to ask that police officers be trained in how to restrain dogs without killing them. What is the problem with them receiving training in how to read dog body language? Police officers have many more duties and responsibilities than just arresting and shooting. They are intelligent people who for the most part want to be as good at their jobs as possible. That means being trained in how to defuse situations before deadly force is needed. That applies to situations involving both humans and dogs. Yes, perhaps the people watching this dog could have taken measures to keep her contained better, but that does not excuse the officer for shooting her when deadly force was definitely not needed. The poor dog was scared to death and trying to get away. How about a little compassion for her and her distraught owner?

Raygina

The letter writer obviously paid no attention to the story. I sincerely hope they don’t believe the tripe they wrote because that level of stupidity frightens me.

Magnus

All cops deserve the Dinkheller treatment- Gunned down by a drunk veteran with an M1 Carbine.

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